Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell

1956 studio album by Bud Powell

Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell

Studio album by

Bud Powell

Released| 1956
Recorded| April 25 & 27, 1955
Genre| Jazz
Length| 38:26
Label| Norgran
Producer| Norman Granz
Bud Powell chronology
| Bud Powell's Moods
(1956)  | Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell
(1956)  | Bud Powell Trio
(1957)

|
|

Professional ratingsReview scores

Source| Rating
AllMusic| [1]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide| [2]
DownBeat| [3]

Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell is a studio album by jazz pianist Bud Powell, released in 1956 by Norgran,[4] featuring two sessions that Powell recorded at Fine Sound Studios in New York in April 1955.

The album was re-issued on LP by Verve (MGV 8167),[5] and released as a CD replica by Verve (Japan) in 2006 (POCJ-2743). The sessions (with alternate takes) are also available on The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (1994) CD box set.

## History

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The album presents the April 25 master takes in full, apart from "Bean and the Boys" (the version here is from April 27). The April 27 session is split between this album and The Lonely One....

The version of "Willow Grove" on the Piano Interpretations album is a different tune than the original tune of the same title, composed by Powell and fellow bebop pianist Walter Davis Jr. during and shortly after his time at Creedmoor Hospital. Powell had forgotten the original, following electroshock therapy and wrote the new version of the tune at the studio.[6]

DownBeat's critics praised the album, praising Taylor and Duvivier and noting about Powell personally, "[T]his is one of Bud’s better sets in the last couple of years and indicates what is finally being realized by some of those who have control over him—that Bud is in increasing control over himself, and that it is no longer necessarily true that the best of Bud is behind him."[3]

## Track listing 12" LP (MGN 1077, MGV 8167)

[edit]

1. "Conception" (Powell, George Shearing) – 3:36
2. "East of the Sun (and West of the Moon)" (Brooks Bowman) – 3:55
3. "Heart and Soul" (Hoagy Carmichael, Frank Loesser) – 3:18
4. "Willow Groove" (aka "Willow Grove") (Powell, Walter Davis Jr.) – 4:25
5. "Crazy Rhythm" (Joseph Meyer, Roger Wolfe Kahn, Irving Caesar) – 3:36

1. "Willow Weep for Me" (Ann Ronell) – 4:43
2. "Bean and the Boys" (Coleman Hawkins) (contrafact of "Lover Come Back to Me") – 5:14
3. "Lady Bird" (Tadd Dameron) – 4:44
4. "Stairway to the Stars" (Matty Malneck, Frank Signorelli, Mitchell Parish) – 4:55

## Personnel

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### Performance

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April 25, 1955, side A tracks 1, 3-5 and side B track 1. April 27, 1955, side A track 2 and side B tracks 2-4. Fine Sound Studios, New York.

* Bud Powell – piano
* George Duvivier – bass
* Art Taylor – drums

### Production

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* Norman Granz – producer
* David Stone Martin – cover design

## References

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1. ^ "Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell - Bud Powell | AllMusic". allmusic.com. 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
2. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. pp. 163. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
3. ^ a b "Bud Powell - Piano Interpretations". DownBeat. August 8, 1956. p. 24.
4. ^ Togashi, Nobuaki; Matsubayashi, Kohji; Hatta, Masayuki. "Bud Powell Discography (MGN 1077)". jazzdisco.org. Retrieved June 13, 2009.
5. ^ Togashi, Nobuaki; Matsubayashi, Kohji; Hatta, Masayuki. "Bud Powell Discography (MGV 8167)". jazzdisco.org. Retrieved June 12, 2009.
6. ^ Paudras, Francis (1998). Dance of the Infidels. Da Capo Press. p. 351.

* v
* t
* e

Bud Powell

Years given are for the recording(s), not first release. Because Powell's discography features albums with the same title, record labels are identified to avoid any confusion.

As leader
or co-leader|

* Bud Powell Trio (Roost, 1947–53)
* Jazz Giant/Piano Solos/Piano Solos, No.2 (1949–50)
* The Amazing Bud Powell (1949–51)
* The Genius of Bud Powell/Bud Powell's Moods (Mercury/Verve, 1950–51)
* Inner Fires (1953)
* The Amazing Bud Powell, Vol. 2 (1953)
* Bud Powell's Moods (Norgran/Verve, 1956)
* Jazz Original/Bud Powell '57 (1954–55)
* The Lonely One... (1955)
* Piano Interpretations by Bud Powell (1955)
* Blues in the Closet (1956)
* Strictly Powell (1956)
* Bud! (1957)
* Swingin' with Bud (1957)
* Bud Plays Bird (1957–58)
* Time Waits (1958)
* The Scene Changes (1958)
* Bud in Paris (1959–60)
* The Essen Jazz Festival Concert (1960)
* A Portrait of Thelonious (1961)
* A Tribute to Cannonball (and Don Byas, 1961)
* 'Round About Midnight at the Blue Note (1961)
* At the Golden Circle (1962)
* Bouncing with Bud (1962)
* Americans in Europe (split album, 1963)
* Bud Powell in Paris (1963)
* Relaxin' at Home, 61–64 (1961–64)
* Eternity (1961–64)
* The Invisible Cage (1964)
* Holidays in Edenville, 64 (1964)
* The Return of Bud Powell (1964)
* Award at Birdland, 64 (1964)
* Ups 'n Downs (c. 1965)

With others|

* Cootie Williams and His Orchestra 1941–1944 (Cootie Williams, Classics, 1944)
* New York Journeyman – Complete Recordings (Frank Socolow, 1945)
* Dexter Rides Again (Dexter Gordon, 1946)
* J. J. Johnson's Jazz Quintets (1946)
* Sonny Stitt/Bud Powell/J. J. Johnson (1949–50)
* One Night in Birdland (1950)
* Jazz at Massey Hall (Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Mingus, Max Roach, 1953)
* Mingus at Antibes (Charles Mingus, 1960)
* Paris Jam Session (Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, 1959)
* Dizzy Gillespie and the Double Six of Paris (1963)
* Our Man in Paris (Dexter Gordon, 1963)

Compilations
and box sets|

* Earl Bud Powell, Vol. 1: Early Years of a Genius, 44–48 (1944–48)
* The Best of Bud Powell on Verve (1949–55)
* The Complete Blue Note and Roost Recordings (1947–63)
* The Complete RCA Trio Sessions (1956–57)
* The Complete Bud Powell on Verve (1949–56)

Compositions|

* "Bouncing with Bud" (1946)
* "Tempus Fugue-it" (1949)
* "Parisian Thoroughfare" (1951)
* "Un Poco Loco" (1951)
* "Glass Enclosure" (1953)
* "Mediocre" (1955)
* "Bud on Bach" (1957)
* "Una Noche con Francis" (1964)

Related|

* Round Midnight (1986)

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